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Blue Highways to the Enchanted Highway 56k warning
pathfinder
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A few threads down on this forum was a poster asking about travelling on Blue Highways. Blue highways are the smaller, less heavily travelled state and federal highways that are used mostly for local traffic, rather than the major interstate highways that always look very much alike at each exit, whether in California, or Mississippi, or Virgina.
I first became aware of the term blue highways in the book,"Blue Highways", written by William Least-Heat Moon in 1982. "Blue Highways" is his travelogue of his experience traveling America on back roads, after he decided to chuck everything he owned into a van and hit the road, after finding out that he had lost his job, and his wife on the same dismal day.
I love traveling blue highways because you never know just what is around the bend or over the hill. After the shootout in Glacier, Nightingale and I decided to take the blue highways back to Indiana as much as possible.
We departed Glacier, swept down across Montana and into North Dakota. I posted several images of Montana backroads here
Lots of scenes like this
We spent the night just west of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, so that we could spend half a day in the park next morning.
T Roosevelt Nat Park
Which we did; and we saw the usual suspects.
Buffalo
"I see you!!"
Song dogs - lots and lots and lots of song dogs ( aka prairie dogs )
antelope
We passed by Greaper, who had raced ahead of us the previous morning, on his way out of TR Nat Park.
Then we headed east, racing home on I-94, when a blue highway reached out and grabbed us, and pulled us off the Interstate, and onto the little asphalt path called The Enchanted Highway at exit 72.
Now, I had never heard of The Enchanted Highway, and Nightingale was asleep, so I made an executive decision and turned south on the Enchanted Highway that leads to Regent, North Dakota in the late afternoon sun. The sign at the exit said we were about to see the largest out door metal sculptures in the world. ( I wonder if they were including the Statue of Liberty in that boast)
At exit 72 was the first sculpture "Geese in Flight" - http://www.realnd.com/images/enchantedhighwayphoto1.jpg
We had not gone very far south when we saw the first installment, Deer Crossing - http://www.realnd.com/enchantedhighwayphoto2.htm
When we were there, there was only one deer statue still erect, the other was pipe fallen to the ground. It is hard to get a feeling for scale here, but the doe is 50 feet long and 50 feet tall
The sun was getting low, and we had no real idea what lay ahead of us, so we soldiered on, to Grasshoppers in the Field
The sun was getting lower, as we approached the fishing well, which is not listed on the website
These two fish are the size of a city bus.
Next, was the Pheasants on the Prairie. Again the massive scale of these is hard to appreciate, but notice Nightingale in the lower right corner of the first image. The pheasant rooster weighs 13,000 pounds.....The little chick weighs 5,000 pounds.
On we went, racing the sun, to "TR Rides Again" which ways a mere 9,000 pounds and is 51 feet tall.
Immediately in front of the statue of TR, is a stage coach that is more approachable in size
Time and sunlight were running out as we raced up the road, to the Tin Man and his Family. Tin Man and his Wife are 45 feet tall, that is as tall as a five story building...
As we pushed farther south, on the small asphalt highway leading to Regent, we saw hundreds of real pheasants on the road and in the grass as we passed.
In the town itself were more intriguing metal sculptures along main street, and an Enchanted Highway Gift shop, which was unfortunately closed.
Regent native, Gary Greff, was the artist responsible, but the farmers and families of the surrounding areas provided the raw materials, muscle and sweat, and capital, and land to make this all possible. Each of these sculptures encompasses at least an acre or two of ground for the statue and the adjacent parking and picnic area. The parking areas are covered with crushed white rock. I am impressed by the effort that these art works entailed to completion.
This is why I love to travel blue highways, and discover, new to me, unknown gems of American enterprise and ingenuity.
I hope you all enjoyed my trip down this Blue Highway, the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota. It is worth the trip.
See you on the road.
Keep the rubber side down!
I first became aware of the term blue highways in the book,"Blue Highways", written by William Least-Heat Moon in 1982. "Blue Highways" is his travelogue of his experience traveling America on back roads, after he decided to chuck everything he owned into a van and hit the road, after finding out that he had lost his job, and his wife on the same dismal day.
I love traveling blue highways because you never know just what is around the bend or over the hill. After the shootout in Glacier, Nightingale and I decided to take the blue highways back to Indiana as much as possible.
We departed Glacier, swept down across Montana and into North Dakota. I posted several images of Montana backroads here
Lots of scenes like this
We spent the night just west of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, so that we could spend half a day in the park next morning.
T Roosevelt Nat Park
Which we did; and we saw the usual suspects.
Buffalo
"I see you!!"
Song dogs - lots and lots and lots of song dogs ( aka prairie dogs )
antelope
We passed by Greaper, who had raced ahead of us the previous morning, on his way out of TR Nat Park.
Then we headed east, racing home on I-94, when a blue highway reached out and grabbed us, and pulled us off the Interstate, and onto the little asphalt path called The Enchanted Highway at exit 72.
Now, I had never heard of The Enchanted Highway, and Nightingale was asleep, so I made an executive decision and turned south on the Enchanted Highway that leads to Regent, North Dakota in the late afternoon sun. The sign at the exit said we were about to see the largest out door metal sculptures in the world. ( I wonder if they were including the Statue of Liberty in that boast)
At exit 72 was the first sculpture "Geese in Flight" - http://www.realnd.com/images/enchantedhighwayphoto1.jpg
We had not gone very far south when we saw the first installment, Deer Crossing - http://www.realnd.com/enchantedhighwayphoto2.htm
When we were there, there was only one deer statue still erect, the other was pipe fallen to the ground. It is hard to get a feeling for scale here, but the doe is 50 feet long and 50 feet tall
The sun was getting low, and we had no real idea what lay ahead of us, so we soldiered on, to Grasshoppers in the Field
The sun was getting lower, as we approached the fishing well, which is not listed on the website
These two fish are the size of a city bus.
Next, was the Pheasants on the Prairie. Again the massive scale of these is hard to appreciate, but notice Nightingale in the lower right corner of the first image. The pheasant rooster weighs 13,000 pounds.....The little chick weighs 5,000 pounds.
On we went, racing the sun, to "TR Rides Again" which ways a mere 9,000 pounds and is 51 feet tall.
Immediately in front of the statue of TR, is a stage coach that is more approachable in size
Time and sunlight were running out as we raced up the road, to the Tin Man and his Family. Tin Man and his Wife are 45 feet tall, that is as tall as a five story building...
As we pushed farther south, on the small asphalt highway leading to Regent, we saw hundreds of real pheasants on the road and in the grass as we passed.
In the town itself were more intriguing metal sculptures along main street, and an Enchanted Highway Gift shop, which was unfortunately closed.
Regent native, Gary Greff, was the artist responsible, but the farmers and families of the surrounding areas provided the raw materials, muscle and sweat, and capital, and land to make this all possible. Each of these sculptures encompasses at least an acre or two of ground for the statue and the adjacent parking and picnic area. The parking areas are covered with crushed white rock. I am impressed by the effort that these art works entailed to completion.
This is why I love to travel blue highways, and discover, new to me, unknown gems of American enterprise and ingenuity.
I hope you all enjoyed my trip down this Blue Highway, the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota. It is worth the trip.
See you on the road.
Keep the rubber side down!
Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
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www.tippiepics.com
I wanted to get more time inside T.R.N.P., but those darned buffalo had me pinned in my car for a couple hours. There were two herds of ~100 each on either side of me about 12 miles in, but at least there were some good photos that came of the experience.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky
Your family hx pics from Tejas are fascinating!
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Thanks for your comments.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
You need to post your shots of the abandoned buildings, I would love to see your rendition of this spot.
Glad you like the statues - eastern Montana and western N Dakota are so wide open and empty, that finding these artworks was wonderful fun. I wish we had had a few more hours of daylight. By the time I was shooting the Tin Man, the sun was almost below the horizon.
Thanks for stopping by.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Great journey - thanks for sharing. These sculptures must really make an impression on the prairie landscape - fascinating.
I bought a book recently that depicts several backroad drives through Alberta, I guess our equivalent of blue highways, I hope to be able to follow a few of those routes each year.
ann
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Thanks for sharing your trip, what surprises lie around the bend!
Kbrick
Thanks.
Ian
After we saw you and Kathy at TRNP we had to put the rubber to the road to get back in time for Editha to get to work.
The back roads rock if you have the time. You see great things, and you can actually stop and look at them without a semi running over you.
Great stuff, thx for sharing the journey.
Brian
I always travel the back roads of ND. You see so much more then the barren highways
Next time your in ND I will tell you a beautiful place to get some natural landscape photos---if you don't mind hiking in with the cows.
Dogdots/Mary
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
Mary,
Nightingale and I had a great time in North Dakota. We only wished we had had more sunlight to explore.
Colorado and Montana get the headlines, but all states have their secret landscape sites if you are persistent, and keep looking. Even Indiana
We are always up for a good hike, too. Cows do not intimidate us a bit. Now bulls, that might be a bit more of a concern:D
Nightingale has helped create steers on a ranch in South Dakota. Hopefully she is not on the Dakota Bull-Steer watch list.:D
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
I start on the trail, but usually go off it and wonder the prairie. You do have to keep an eye to where you are as you can get lost fast.
Its the Sheyenne National Grasslands. In fact its a gravel road to the parts I go to. I love to travel the gravel roads as there is so much to see.
Sometime when I get daring I will post a few photos from there.
Dogdots/Mary
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
Thanks, Harry
Looking forward to seeing you and Linda in February
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Gravel roads are the best. I always take them if I can.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin